February 23rd, 2010 by Heather
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Ok so similar to my Monica Seles review, I was not necessarily a big Lance Armstrong fan. I never was into watched the Tour de France. I did obviously know who he was. I mean a super athlete who had battled cancer and went on to win the Tour. But after being motivated by Monica’s book, and the fact that I need to be motivated on my treadmill, I decided it was time to read Lance’s story.
First, Lance was raised by a single mom who had him at 17. Ok the book got me right here. Call me impressed. I was also raised by a single mom. So right away I found the story motivating. This woman kicked some major single mom butt. I love the relationship between them. Reading about their relationship to me was the best part of the book.
I really enjoy reading how athletes grow and push themselves at a young age. Lance was out riding his bike like a crazy man as a kid. Even though bike races weren’t cool, he realized this was his ticket. Man it’s cool to read people who figure out their life’s goals at a young age and then actually work for it. The man trained all the time. It’s also just incredible what athletes will put their bodies through. Car wreck, bike wrecks, all kind of weather, just pushing.
He learned to push through so much that he originally assumed his cancer was a bike injury. I didn’t realize how young he was when he was diagnosed. But he had to work to get the best care with a disease that was so close to taking his life. I really enjoyed reading about how cancer changed him and what he learned along the way.
It was a little weird to read the book about his wife when now they are divorced. But it was definitely sweet.
Overall I just love to read about athletes who push and push. Whether it’s training or fighting other battles in life. I finished the book wanting more about the relationship with other team mates but still overall 5 out of 5 sweet potatoes!
Right now I’m reading Andre Agassi’s new book. This is going to be good!
February 22nd, 2010 by Heather
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I don’t particularly like watching films about the food industry. I find it sad, hard to watch, and easier to not think about where the food I eat is coming from.
But I think Food, Inc. does a great job and showing you but not completely grossing you out to the point of not being able to watch the moving.
There was an extremely sad part about a Food activist whose son died from eating meat with e-coli. Her goal now is to change the food industry so another parent doesn’t lose a child.
I didn’t realize before watching this movie that e-coli is preventable. It’s created because cows are made to eat grass, not cow or processed other junk.
One of the more disturbing parts of the movie was how scientists test how a cow processes feed versus grass. E-coli could be eliminated if cows are feed grass, sad to know it’s that simple.
There are parts concerning how corporations own our food system, it’s mind blogging and it’s big business. Also a lot into chicken farms and how big corporations run them.
Overally I really enjoyed this movie. I would have like a little more focus on chemicals and organic, it is touched on but I think could have gone deeper. It does help to shed light on where our food comes from and I think that is greatly necessary.
February 22nd, 2010 by Heather
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I remember getting to this point before. The desire to be a healthier person, be happy, eat better, create an eating plan I can be happy with. I’ve done a lot of online reading today. Maybe book reviews on Amazon which I always find to be a valuable collection for information for a wide range of people.
I think unfortunately people’s desire to start a healthier eating plan gets overtaken with people’s desire to not be preached to or told what to do. I know there are tons of books out there about going vegan or vegetarian but most of us already know animals are maintained a certain way to support human’s eating. I don’t know if it needs to be hashed out in every book because it turns people away. I hope to be able to focus more on once people have made their decision how to move forward from there. How to take the next step into becoming an all around nontoxic person. There definitely is a need for it, people who want help but don’t want to read an Encyclopedia full of information. Most of us are busy and want to be entertained, learn and make improvements along the way.
Diet and fitness does not have to be an all or nothing process. I think we try, we learn, we tweek and we try again.
February 22nd, 2010 by Heather
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I’ve been putting something off lately. Sometimes I don’t give it much thought, saying it just doesn’t matter. Other times I think, just use it as a sanity check and do it. It’s getting back on the scale. I don’t like to be obsessed by scale weight. I want to get to a point that my body is in balance with what I eat and what weight I should be. But the scale is a way of keeping yourself in check. So this morning I was feeling ok body wise and got back on the scale. I have put back on weight and it’s slightly frustrating but also is a way of providing me with a check. The check to me is I’m not in harmony yet with what I eat. I struggle with animal products. I just haven’t liked them for years. I’ve gone through phases of being a vegetarian or vegan. But then I struggle with processed food. You can be a vegan and still eat a lot of junk. I remember meeting a girl a few years back that was a strict vegan but suprisingly overweight. I didn’t want that either. When I see the people at the gym in great shape I think I should eat what they eat. Then I tried it but I still don’t feel in harmony. I tried to learn to like chicken. But seriously I just can’t and don’t want to do it. Especially after walking Food Inc. (more on that later).
I read a lot this weekend about macrobiotics. In the past I’ve also read about raw food plans. I think harmony for me will be some combination of vegan, macrobiotics,non processed and raw foods. I want to live a nontoxic life. Although some foods like cheese don’t require an animal to be killed to make them I still do not like the process the animal lives under and the food the animal eats. But basically if a cow is eating foods with toxins I believe those toxins are past on to the cheese. So my fitness quest continues. Now with making a bigger move towards vegan, non processed, macrobiotic and raw food. I don’t feel this plan is for everyone but you have to figure out what your body is in harmony with.
February 19th, 2010 by Heather
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I live close to a Marine training center. This morning, about 6am, I saw a group of Marines being timed on a 1 mile run. The group was really pushing each other and finishing strong. I thought, here is a group of guys who are training to keep our country save and free. Yet people who have a choice to get up off the couch and be strong for themselves complain about working out. I pushed myself harder in my cardio session this morning. If those guys can push themselves for me, I can too.
February 18th, 2010 by Heather
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I’ve been working out at my current gym for about 4 years. I work out at an awesome gym in San Diego that I just love. I get ready there on weekdays before work. Now this is a pain in the you know what! Every night I need to pack my clothes for work as well as my food. Grab it all and pack the clothes in my car the night before. Remember to grab my food. All at 6:30 am. I’ve had days were I’ve forgotten underwear, socks, towels, makeup. You name it. I feel like I’m constantly moving my makeup in and out of my car. In fact it’s almost like I’m living out of my car some days.
Well my gym has an option where you can rent a locker for a year for the cost of $50. For some reason I’ve been putting this off, even realizing this will make my life a bit easier. But today I finally rented a locker. This means I can leave some key items at the gym. I’m so freaking excited about this I could scream. AH!! So excited! I’m not sure why I put this off. It does mean I need to get duplicates of makeup so I can leave one at home and one at the gym. But, the mental energy this will save me over the next year it completely worth it. Working out and making healthy decisions takes work. You need to find the ways to make things easier and act on them. Otherwise it’s way too easy to give it all up. Even though in the long run the extra work is all worth it.
February 17th, 2010 by Heather
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Yesterday after work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a card for my boyfriend’s birthday. As I was walking into the store, I saw a mom with 2 kids who appeared to be somewhere between 10-13. While putting their groceries in the trunk, the kids were eating some donuts they just brought from the grocery store. You know the fresh made ones they sell in the bakery section. I found this sad because it was about 6pm, the kids probably were hungry and needed a healthy dinner. But instead they were eating a sugar, fat filled donut. Both kids were overweight and I just was so sad when I saw that. It would have been just as easy for the mom to buy a couple bananas or an apple to give the kids a quick snack before dinner. But our society has become immune to even considering what is a better choice for kids. This ”quick snack” habit is just setting the kids up for making years of bad food choices. As a parent wouldn’t you rather teach your children healthier habits and have a healthy child? Please consider what you are allowing your children to eat. Help them realize healthy food is good and can be a fun treat over junk.
February 17th, 2010 by Heather
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You pack up all your food for the day. Head to the gym in the morning. Work out, get showered and dressed. Get ready to head to work. Realize you forgot your food. Decide you would rather eat your healthy food then have to wing it and choose from all the crap at work. Drive all the way in the other direction back home to pick it up. Happy with your decision to want to eat healthy.
February 12th, 2010 by Heather
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Learn to love yourself and your body enough to give it the healthy food and exercise it needs. It’s interesting that we get the best gas for our high performance cars, get special diet food for our pets, and health baby food but yet we have no problem feeding ourselves processed junk. If your body could pick what it really wanted to eat to be at it’s top performance, do you think it would pick organic veggies or a fried, processed, artery clogging snack?
If your body had the choice between sitting on the couch eating ice cream or going to a walk out in the fresh air or stretching it’s muscles, which would it chose?
So much about poor eating habits is more about comfort and emotional eating than it is about what is best for your body. It’s a cycle of eating bad, then feeling bad, which leads to more emotional eating. Going through those first weeks of a fitness quest can be challenging. But even if the weight isn’t coming off as quickly as you want, just focus on providing the best, top quality food for the body that you love. The healthier you eat, the better you will feel which will make you want to move and exercise more. Good habits add additional good habits, bad habits add additional bad habits.
Focus on loving yourself enough to get the best food and exercise for yourself.
February 10th, 2010 by Heather
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I’m not a huge runner. But sometimes out of no where the feeling hits me to run. I’ve been getting that feeling lately since turning 40. So I run until I don’t feel like running anymore. I do have trouble with my hips. As we get older we have different issues to worry about. I don’t think you need to run to lose weight as I didn’t run at all during my fitness quest to lose 20lbs. I mainly did a fast walk on the treadmill. But I think if the mood hits you, you need to do it.
Eliza discusses the issues and benefits of running after 40 at “Running after forty? Absolutely!” I’m glad other people share my love/hate relationship with running. I think when you finish a run no other workout gives quite the same high. But other times it’s hard to push yourself. But it’s nice to know we can start or keep running as we age.
